House

In the thick of a dense wood, a young man comes upon a decrepit house and two teen-aged girls, who quickly decide to explore the abandoned house together. Simmons captures the aloof ennui and deep curiosity of being a teenager — that is, until events force them to confront their own mortality. This adventurous, silent graphic novel demonstrates the solid strength of this young cartoonist's storytelling ability. Whether plunging into the watery depths of a sinkhole that has obviously swallowed part of a town or entering the uncertain hidden corridors of the house, every turn is captured with intensity by Simmons' scratchy pen. Page composition and panel arrangements are masterfully coordinated to reflect the characters' increasingly claustrophobic panic as the story reaches its crescendo, and to cause a similar and palpable reaction in the reader. House is Josh Simmons' first full-length graphic novel after years of honing his craft on the humorous, underground comic series Happy, and it is a visual and formal tour de force that proclaims Simmons a major cartooning talent of the new century.

"A super-creepy and elegant first graphic novel. Comics doesn't tend to offer up the kind of super-bleak horror that Josh Simmons puts together here, and after seeing how effective this book is, you'll join me in asking why... one of the year's most impressive debuts." – The Comics Reporter

"House is a horror comic in the tradition of The Blair Witch Project, and it's scary stuff." – Toronto Globe and Mail

"I'm a huge horror movie fan, but I've always been a bit disappointed by horror comics. Though I love the old EC stuff, Swamp Thing, and other horror comics, I've never felt like I was pulled into a creepy believable world that actually scared me. House takes me there. It is a scary and horrible story with the kind of bleak ending I've always wanted to see. And Josh's artwork is gorgeous. I love how the artwork gradually gets darker throughout the book, like the reader is being sucked into the blackness, along with the characters." – Tom Neely

"A brilliant little piece of horror: wordless, evocative, and one of the strongest professional debuts I saw this year." – Kevin Church